SO WHAT? The Writer's Argument, with Readings

Paperback | November 25, 2016

Pricing and Purchase Info

$62.95

Earn 315 plum® points

Prices and offers may vary in store

Quantity:

Ships within 1-3 weeks

Ships free on orders over $25

Not available in stores

about

So What? teaches students how to write compelling arguments and explains why practicing argumentation is essential to learning and communicating with others. Practical exercises throughout each chapter reinforce this broader academic aim by focusing on the key issue of significance-helpingwriters answer the "So What?" question for themselves and their audiences. By showing students how their writing fits within the broader context of academic inquiry, So What? encourages them to emulate and adapt the authentic academic styles, foundational organizing structures, and helpfulrhetorical moves to their college classes and beyond. This version includes readings that demonstrate why student writing matters in academic settings. The readings also provoke students to think about how authentic writing involves a genuine audience, purpose, and context.Short, flexible, and affordable, So What? begins by teaching students how to understand their compositions as contributions within the broader context of college, as important practice in academic inquiry and knowledge making. By teaching students how to become apprentice scholars, So What? givesstudents access authentic academic styles, foundational organizing structures, and helpful rhetorical moves that they can emulate and adapt in their college classes and beyond. One of the biggest challenges to teaching freshman composition is motivation, or the "So What" factor. Students find themselves writing about something they know or care little about (for example, deeper meanings of Shakespeare) or they write about something that their audience knows or cares littleabout (such as legalizing marijuana). Both parties are left wondering, so what? Is it any wonder that student writing often lacks energy or purpose? Many textbooks try to solve this lack of authenticity by focusing on argument, based in either technical rhetoric or "real world" persuasion. Whilethese approaches may clarify students' conception of audience, purpose, and context, they don't teach students how academic writing functions or how to produce it-and they don't make academic argument seem any more authentic, useful, or meaningful.

About The Author

Kurt Schick has been teaching composition for twenty years. He is the Director of the Learning Centers and Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication at James Madison University, where he has developed and delivered courses in introductory writing, rhetoric,
composition pedagogy, and research methodologies, a...

Educational/Developmental Value:

Durability:

Hours of Play:

Thank you. Your review has been submitted and will appear here shortly.

Reviews

Extra Content

Editorial Reviews

"While I think handbooks are very useful in the classroom, I find the voice and tone of those books to be stale and dull. This approach feels conversational, and I appreciate the authors' attempts to communicate without the heavy jargon. So What?... incorporates writing for different audiencesand different purposes, rather than just argumentative academic papers. This book also focuses on engaging students in debatable and controversial subjects, and it can help students develop research topics. It covers a wide range of the types of writing students engage in, while also emphasizing all of the different steps of the writing process, including reading and drafting. I also think the tone, examples used, and brevity of the chapters would encourage students to engage with the book beyond justfulfilling a reading assignment." --Catherine Staley, Marshall University